What Was Once Ours
by zaquiop
Summary: There is a summary of the story in the first paragraph, it was too long for this tiny box so I have it there instead. I originally wrote this on Google documents so there might have been a few problems with the transition between the two.
1. Chapter 1

**What Was Once Ours**

by: Zaquiop

* * *

Every year, 20 ponies are sent into the ruins, in hopes of restarting the civilization that used to exist. Each of these ponies must work with the others to recreate this civilization, for it is not an easy task. But recreation will not be the only thing happening. There are dangers in the old world. Dangers that have doomed everypony who thought themselves fit to try and bring back the old world. These dangers have caused the fall of 20 ponies for a consecutive 3 years now. However, this years batch looks quite promising. Those who have saved Equestria more than twice now will be among the 20. Maybe this will be the year that we can repossess what was once ours...

* * *

The defeat of the changelings in Canterlot was a huge contributor to the rising tensions between the changelings and Equestria. For about 6 months, a large influx of ponies arrived in Equestria. Nopony thought of this as suspicious, though. They all claimed to be refugees from an attack on their own homelands. They claimed that the changelings had devastated their country, and that they were seeking refuge in Equestria, but Equestria was not prepared for such a large amount of residents.

Food became very scarce, as the country's farms could not support the new population. Food prices skyrocketed, and soon nearly everypony was broke and hungry. The princesses scrambled to get the new populace to work on farms, to get more food into circulation. But it was already too late. Nearly a fifth of all ponies who had once lived in Equestria had died of starvation.

As a last-ditch effort to save Equestria, Princess Celestia decided to close off certain villages and towns. She shrunk her empire to make it easier to transport food back and forth. She ended up saving a good amount of money due to less trade between her cities, but she also ended up with overcrowded cities, especially Canterlot. All that survived in the small villages rushed to the capital, hoping that Celestia's magic would save them.

Then disease spread, and severely sliced through whatever left of the population in Canterlot. Ponies all over Canterlot died, and morale was killed off entirely. This is when the changelings struck.

As one might have guessed by now, the massive increase of populace was actually a full army of changelings. When they began to infiltrate the cities and villages of Equestria, they declared war, but nopony knew. Only when Equestria was severely beaten and down on defenses did the changelings decide to reveal their master plan. Their plan, in fact, was to overpopulate Equestria and cause the whole mess. They had planned on the downfall of ponies, and had timed their attack accordingly. It was a devastating blow to an already devastated nation.

The battle for Canterlot lasted nearly two days, and it took both celestial sisters to fend off the onslaught of changelings. Many ponies died, and many families had to go homeless. At the end of the attack, when the royal sisters finally succeeded, nearly all of Canterlot was in ruins. Ponies worked for hours to try and rebuild it, but it would never rise to its former glory.

During the third year after the strike on Canterlot, the changelings signed a peace treaty to end the war. Somehow, Equestria had won enough fights for the changelings to call off the attacks, but it was obvious that Equestria would lay in ruins for years to come. Almost all of the land previously owned by Equestria was under changeling control, and the population had shrunk to only a sixth of its original size.

Princess Celestia almost immediately called for expansion into the territories that had once been owned by Equestria. She sought to retake everything she had abandoned during the depression. She decided to send teams of 20 ponies to each village or city annually, so that they could recreate the old Equestria. However, these teams have constantly gone mad on the job or have been eliminated entirely. Only a few towns and villages have actually been renovated, and only a fraction of the technology has survived.

So every year 20 more brave ponies travel to the bordering cities and villages in hopes of surviving and rebuilding.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle reclined onto her haunches. She was tired. For some reason, princess Celestia herself, had wanted twilight to write up a history of Equestria, detailing the events of the past six years. Finding all of the info, and formerly writing it up, was a very tiring experience. It was hard to find info of recent events, that didn't come from a, biased, first hand experience. Even the Royal Canterlot Library had been almost bare of information. It was depressing how little actually remained of that library.

"SPIKE." Twilight yelled. Her voice cut through the silent, night air.

"Coming Twilight!" replied the dragon. Sure enough, in a few seconds, spike the dragon was downstairs and ready to work. Twilight was surprised he was still awake at this hour. After all it was what? 10 o'clock? 11 o'clock? It didn't really matter did it? It was a huge deal to be asking something of him at this point at night. So she decided to make it quick.

"Spike, can you please send this scroll to princess Celestia?" Twilight asked kindly, as she finished rolling up the scroll, and sealing it. She didn't want to bother poor spike for something as small as sending a letter, but princess Celestia had said it was of the utmost importance. So tired or not, spike would have to deal with it.

And he did. In fact he sent the letter without a word, and headed back upstairs to go back to sleep. It reminded Twilight of all the previous years, back in ponyville, when spike would be flat out asleep at 7 in the afternoon. He had grown to be quite the assistant in the past six years. Everypony had grown a lot in the past six years. Twilight and her friends were no exception.

It was odd to think back to the days when everything was so easy, and light hearted. All the pet play dates in the park back at ponyville. All the time Pinkie would say something nopony understood, and laugh it off. It was good back then, but now, things were different.

Everything was a complete mess. Equestria had been under siege, and had just about lost. It was depressing to everypony. Those that used to be friends, hardly saw each other anymore. Only a few friends had the right to call themselves friends anymore. Luckily, twilight still saw her friends quite frequently. Though, nopony ever seemed quite as happy or hyperactive as before. Was it because of them all growing older? Or simply because of the war?

The war was long over though. Hopefully, that meant Equestria was going to make a comeback.

Twilight's eyes returned to her desk in front of her. On it still remained the letter Princess Celestia had sent Twilight, instructing her to summarize the events of the past few years. Along with the task, the letter explained to Twilight that she and her friends would all be required to meet Princess Celestia in Canterlot castle tomorrow at 1 in the afternoon.

It was an odd time to meet, considering 1:30 was always the time that the new recruits would be sent all over Equestria. Though, that's all Twilight thought of it. Odd.

After a few minutes of thought, Twilight decided that the Princess must want the elements of harmony to send the newest group off into the world. Just something special to raise hopes. It made sense too, because so far, morale had been pretty low about the whole thing. Although, Twilight was hoping that this year would be filled with some promising recruits. Some Ponies that could finally start those outlying places back on their hooves. She wished they would succeed.

"Who?"

The owls persistent question had startled Twilight a little. It had been a long while since Owlicious had made any noise at all. He always seemed to perch up high in one corner of the room, in fact that's where he was now.

But it seemed as though the owl had read Twilight's thoughts. Indeed, who was going to be sent off to try and recover Ponyville this time? As well as the other 5 or 6 remaining small towns and cities out there. The questioned seemed to linger in the air for an entire ten minutes, until Twilight finally dismissed any thoughts about it as superstition. It would be crazy to worry about these kinds of things, especially this late at night.

Reluctantly, she headed upstairs, and only when she landed on her bed, did she really realize how tired she was. Immediately, she fell asleep.

* * *

Soon, after a short 11 hours, the sun started to ride into the air. Long rays of sunlight spread across the floor of the small apartment light swept across the floor, until it hit an strategically placed metal watch, and reflected right into the eye of a certain blue Pegasus.

Instinctively, the pony's cyann wings unfurled to block out the harsh light. It worked in stopping the offending light, but as soon as the wings left the body, the chill of the room could be felt all over the Pegasus' body. Unfortunately, the light from the sun was not enough to counteract the cold of the unheated apartment. The blue pony saw no victory in this battle.

Rainbow dash rolled off of the couch she had been sleeping on, and planted her hooves on the ground firmly. After doing so, a few joints in her body popped back into place, relaxing the pegasus a little. She made a mental note to have fluttershy take the couch tomorrow night.

Her next instinct was to close the window, that had allowed the rays of sunlight to disturb her sleep. Slowly, and reluctantly she trotted over to the window, and raised a hoof to draw the curtains closed. Before she could follow through with her plan, her eyes gazed upon the outside of the the blue mares suprse, the sun wasn't just rising like she had thought it was, but the sun was already quite high in the air.

She reasoned not to close the curtains, considering the time. By the looks of it, the sun was already coming to the top of its arc. Noon would be upon them soon. Without thinking, considering she was still in her post sleep daze, she scooped up the watch that had been the reflective accomplice of the sun, and took a look at the time. The hand of the clock seemed to suggest that it was already 11:48.

Rainbow dash dropped the watch back onto the floor where it made a soft thump. She turned her entire body so she was facing the kitchen of the apartment, on of the three rooms this apartments offered. Inside, was a yellow mare, already hard at work on making brunch for the cyann pegasus.

Rainbow dash began to walk over to Fluttershy, and as she did so, she spoke.

"Fluttershy, I said I wanted to make you breakfast for once." Rainbow dash protested. "You always cook, and I have never been able to repay you for it."

"Oh it's fine." Fluttershy said smiling. "You don't have to cook! I mean, as long as it's okay with you." Her expression went from something of a happy face, to the face of a somepony that thought they had done something wrong. She obviously blamed herself for not letting Rainbow dash cook.

"Keep your head up Flutters! IT's fine, I'm actually glad you cooked for me, I'm starving!" The cyann pegasus beamed. For whatever reason, fluttershy always blamed herself. It was a bad habit that needed to be broken.

"Oh, Okay." She responded, her face brightening back up a little. Though, Nopony could say that it was a happy face. If one was to claim possession of a happy face, they would be lying. These past few years had been depressing, and almost all morale was lost entirely. Both ponies in the room knew this, but neither dared to talk about it with the other. For a long time, nothing happened. The moment seemed to linger there for a long while, and both Pegasi were still.

Luckily, a loud knock at the front door of the apartment ruptured the silence. Both Rainbow Dash and fluttershy were startled for a moment, before the former spoke up.

"I'll get it!" She said a little too excitedly. She was really just looking for a way to escape the awkward silence between the two of them. So she walked back out into the room she had slept in, and up to the door to the hallway. The 'Do not disturb' sign they had been giving, hung lazily on the door, facing the inside.

When Rainbow Dash pulled open the door, she was greeted by a particular purple unicorn. The pegasus was the first to speak.

"Twilight! What brings you here?" She questioned.

"Well, the princess has called all of the elements of harmony together to meet at Canterlot Castle at 1, and I was thinking it would be nice if we all spent some time together before hand. You two were the first stop, so wanna come along?"

"Of course we would!" Responded Rainbow Dash. "Hasn't it been like a month since all six of us have been together?"

"27 days, don't exaggerate."

"Whatever, I'll go get Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash turned to retrieve the yellow mare, only to find that she had been standing in the kitchen doorway listening in on the entire conversation.

"Sorry" Fluttershy whispered softly, as if her eavesdropping required an apology.

Rainbow Dash ignored the apology, and waved Fluttershy over to the door. In a few moments, they were all well on their way out of the apartment, and a little after, out of the entire apartment complex. The three had started a little small talk, and made it a few yards down the road before Rainbow Dash suddenly face hoofed herself.

When twilight asked why, The blue pegasus responded.

"I just realized I never got to eat any breakfast."

A whisper of an apology came from the yellow mare once again, but this time, the three of them laughed it off as they all continued to walk down the road. It had been so long since laughter had been heard in the streets of Canterlot. Hopefully, it wouldn't be the last time laughter filled the streets.

* * *

The six ponies all sat down together in the Canterlot park. It was nice to be all together again, just like old times. In fact, old times seemed to be the current topic of conversation. Everypony seemed to be talking about past experiences they all had together in ponyville. Back before they were all separated here in canterlot. Back before the war.

It was a heartwarming moment when you re-united with old friends, and despite the fact that these friends had always kept in touch, and it had only been six years, it was still one of those experiences. All of the memories of the past rose up through the depressed mind of the six ponies, and they all talked about the experiences they had shared in the past.

Each one had been able to get in touch with another for the past six years, but not once were all six together at the same time.

It was delightful for everypony there.

After the ponies calmed down from their most recent bout of laughter, The white unicorn decided to ask the question that had been on everypony's mind.

"So twilight," She decided to begin. "I'm just dying to know why Princess Celestia has called us up to canterlot castle a short while before the send off. Do you have any idea why she wants us there?" Rarity asked.

"Well" The purple unicorn started. "I'm not so sure myself, but the best I can guess is that she wants us to encourage this years ponies to do their best. I can't think of any other reason for it." Twilight concluded. "I mean it's not like she's gonna send us! We're the elements of harmony, and Princess Celestia probably wants to keep us safe."

At the mention of being sent along with the recruits, Fluttershy shrunk away a little. She had heard it was a scary, dark place to be. Somewhere only the bravest of ponies could survive. Somewhere fluttershy just wouldn't fit in. She decided she could share this feeling with her friends, and spoke up.

"I hope she doesn't want to send us." She said. When everypony turned to look at her, she shrunk away a little, before continuing. "I mean, I heard it's a really scary place, and that all of the wild animals got let loose into the cities. I just don't think it's a place I would want to be." Her sentences got quieter and quieter as she talked, all the way up until she finished.

When she did. An orange pony decided to speak up to comfort her.

"Hey sugarcube, it doesn't matter is it's scary, as long as we are all together right? Friends will only pull through." Applejack said, and everypony nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess..." FLuttershy reasoned. Now she was desperately looking for a way to change the topic. "Hey Twilight, when were we supposed to be at the castle?"

"1 o' clock sharp." Twilight replied happily. After stating this, she checked her new watch. The hands on the face of it declared the time to be 12:45. and a trip to the castle would take nearly ten minutes.

"Oh Celestia! We need to get going! Now!" Twilight exclaimed. They should have left nearly five minutes ago. In order to make time to understand what they would even be doing at the castle so early. It was always good to show up on time. Bad to be late! They needed to get going!

Within the next two minutes, everything was packed away, and they were on their way. Twilight 's mind raced with worries about being late and disappointing her mentor. Though who wouldn't be afraid of disappointing a god?

* * *

The six friends walked right into the canterlot castle, with no opposition from the guards. Nopony seemed to notice, or care, about letting ponies enter. The guards were relaxed, and were letting just about everypony they came across into the castle. They didn't question what they were doing there, nor did they question who had called them to the castle. It seemed as though it was an open house night for all of those that wanted to just barge in on the castle. Twilight desperately hoped that this gigantic crowd was allowed in on purpose, and that it would not distract princess Celestia from doing her job this afternoon. It would be outright terrible if anything were to keep her from communicating what she needed to, to the elements of harmony themselves!

As they entered the castle, there was no escort to take them to the princesses throne rome. No navigation instructions of any kind for that matter. If it was your first time into the castle, you would have surely gotten lost, but luckily Twilight knew the way to the throne room out of practice. Silently, everypony followed her. As they went along the path to the throne room, an odd assortment of guards met the six's eyes. at every doorway, every hall, or rome that wasn't on the path to the throne room, there were guards posted. A few ponies that the six had entered with were constantly walking up the the guards, only to be directed along the path to the throne room. It was almost like everypony here was going to the same place.

It was odd, and disturbing to twilight as well as the others.

Finally, the group of friends reached the entrance to the throne room, in which, a large group of ponies was gathering.

"What kind of crowd is this supposed to be?" The rainbow mane pegasus asked rudely. "I thought Princess Celestia had called us to speak with her personally."

"It looks like a party!" The pink pony spoke up. SUddenly out of her rare quiet state. "Oh boy! I've never been to a royal party before! I bet they're the best!"

"Now Pinkie, I doubt that the Princess would invite us to a party without a fair warning." Rarity suddenly spoke up. "Especially on such a sad day for so many ponies."

"I really hope it's not a party..." A quiet whisper came from the back of the group. Fluttershy had shrunk back a little at the sight of so many ponies.

"Fluttershy lighten up a little." The orange pony spoke up with a southern drawl. "I'm certain it's not a party. Not with so many ponies like this. Besides, as Rarity mentioned, it is a sad day for most everypony, I doubt we'd be celebratin."

"No, no." Twilight sparkle finally spoke up. "This isn't a party." The pink pony's face deflated a little at that comment, but only for a moment. "Do you see how they are all grouped? There seem to be small groups of approximately 15 ponies each. If it were a party, I'm sure there wouldn't be this sort f organization.

"No, this looks a lot more like a gathering of sort, but I don't know what for. Maybe it's some so-"

Twilight's words were cut off when a guard placed a spear in front of them. A look of shock crossed all six of the pony's faces. Before anypony could ask anything about what was going on, the guard spoke.

"You six are to go to group 3, over in the far corner of the throne room. You are to stand quietly and await Princess Celestia's arrival. She will then tell you what to do."

"A-alright..." Twilight responded hesitantly. It seemed as though they were going to join one of the groups, but for what reason? Hadn't princess Celestia called them all here to give the this year's travelers a send off?

Quietly, the entire group traveled over to the place they were directed to stand, and they stood. All six of them were doing their best to follow the guards orders, mainly because there were so many other guards around the throne room, and they didn't want to get in trouble. Even Rainbow dash and Pinkie pie were quiet and calm. Despite this, everypony was uneasy.

This was what looked to be the most serious gathering the six had ever seen, what with so many guards all over the place. It looked like there was supposed to be no communication at all amongst or between groups, and thus, there was none. Everypony here was following the rules to the letter.

After a few minutes, a few more ponies had came along, and progressively, they came more and more frequently. Soon, there were 100 or more ponies in the throne room, but still, it was silent.

It felt like nearly twenty minutes had passed before anything exciting had happened. Everypony was starting to get a little more excited as time went on, and a few hushed whispers would appear every now and then in the crowd.

Then suddenly, Princess Celestia herself, walked into the throne room door. almost immediately after, a few small cheers were hushed out. It seemed as though, she was going to say something important, and everypony wanted to hear it.

"It is with great regret, that I inform you about why I have called you all here today." She took a pause, adding to the intensity of her speech. "Every year, as I'm sure you all know, Many ponies go out to the towns and villages that are still un-inhabited by equestrian hearts. Unfortunately, those ponies do not ever know they are heading into those town or villages until approximately a half an hour before they have to leave." Now she paused again. This time, a few small murmurs picked up, as ponies in the crowd began to catch onto what she was saying.

"Everypony that I have called here today, will be going to one of those towns. You, my little ponies, will be the ones to risk your lives to form new governments and create new civilizations."

Now, there were no murmurs or whispers. There was only silence, as the truth began to sink in. the six best friends that had thought nothing of their call to the canterlot castle were all shocked now. Not a single one of them was expecting this, and only one of them had a response at all.

"ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh"

But still, the princess pressed on. "Now I ask of you all a great deal, and I know that. But I only ask of one more thing from all of you. I ask that you put on a brave face, and counter your upcoming hardships with all the courage you can muster. I hate to have to do this to you all, but I simply must."

Now the throne room was in an uproar. It was hard to comprehend all of the various shouts and yells from all of the ponies that had figured out what was going to happen. Even rainbow dash had started yelling with the rest of the crowd. There didn't seem to be a single pony that wasn't yelling, but there were still a few. Everypony that wasn't yelling at the princess, was silently freaking out.

It was chaos greater than Discord himself could muster.

But soon, the princess left, and the shouts began to quiet down as they lost their target. Soon, everypony that had recently been shouting at the Princess, was now talking amongst their friends, or simply even the groups they had been assigned to. only a few were still quiet from before.

A few minutes passed as each group continued to worry about what they would face in the upcoming days. Then, groups of guards were sent to each group to tell them where they were going. Twilight, as well as the others could hear the names of cities being listed as they waited for their own.

"Appleoosa."

"Las pegasus."

"Manehatten."

"Ponyville."

That last one had been their own assignment. Group 3, over here in the corner, was assigned to go to ponyville, and try to revive the village to a point where it would be safe to send more ponies.

Six best friends were being sent back to the ruins of their original home, and they were tasked with rebuilding it.

It was sickening to think of what could have happened to their beloved home.

It was sickening to think about what might happen to the ponies that had to revive it.

* * *

Three minutes was how long all of the 'brave volunteers' had to get to know each other, before they were told to walk out of the palace in a parade like fashion into the streets of Canterlot, and into the carriages that would drop them off at their destinations. Ponyville had been the third group to head out.

When they had emerged from the castle, the crowd before them was Gigantic. Ponies from what looked like all over Equestria had come to see them head off to the outcasted towns and villages. It was a spectacular display of Equestrian pride.

Despite the crowd and cheers from ponies all over, only a few of the ones in the ponyville group happily waved to them. Among them were Rainbow dash, and Pinkie pie. It seemed as though the majority of this group was completely depressed about being sent off, but nopony could resist a smile when so many ponies were cheering them on.

Unfortunately, there were a few ponies in the group who were not smiling. One of them was Fluttershy, and the other was Twilight Sparkle. Twilights mind was completely full ideas, concerns and general thoughts about what they might encounter, and how they would have to face it. She had already figured that the library would be a good place to set up as a main camp for all of them.

She began to work out what kind of traps the previous years would have set up as protection against anypony else trying to get into their stuff. She had already figured there would be no food and supplies in any of the houses, mainly because the previous years had most likely already taken all of the food and supplies out of the houses, and stockpiled them in one place.

Before she even knew it, she was in the carriage, and they were beginning to start their journey. The carriage they had all piled into was the standard for these expeditions. It was more of a large rectangular box, reinforced with steel. Inside were twenty grim ponies, some of whom were talking amongst each other. Everypony was doing their best to be as friendly as possible. It made it seem more like a family trip than a way into hell.

Most of the six ponies we have been following thus far were talking in the group, but Twilight sparkle was not. She was trying to write down all of the plans she had formulated, on a small piece of paper the guards had been so kind as to provide. It was something that kept Twilight's mind off of the certain death she was approaching.

Though, the other five were all merrily chatting with some other survivors, trying to get to know who they were going to work with in the upcoming days. Only a few of the ponies in the group didn't join in, each of them sitting by themself, and doing something they found more important.

It seemed as though the majority of the group would be able to communicate well, and work together, while one or two others would be left alone and neglected. Twilight was sure to note this on her all important piece of paper. Along with it, she made sure to put down how important teamwork would be, and emphasized the need for a strong leader. Whoever that would end up being.

The ride lasted all of 2 hours, and all conversations stopped when the guards announced their arrival. second began to pass more slowly in the now quiet carriage. Outside, the guards could be heard unhitching the carriage, as they would soon leave them all there. The guards left, and yet, nopony wanted to go outside.

What felt like 10 minutes had passed before Rainbow dash finally got up, and announced she would go outside.

"Alright then. If nopony else will do it, I will!" She said with a false bravery. Slowly, she walked to the back of the carriage, where the door to the outside was located. She hesitated for a bit, before unlatching the door, and walking out into the open field where they had been dropped off.

Once more she hesitated, this time, looking like she had regrets of coming out in the first place. She turned to face the ponies in the carriage, only to find all but two sets of eyes were on her. With her facade of bravery gone, she reluctantly continued around the carriage, to the point where she could see the town of ponyville.

"Oh my god..." Was all she was able to speak.

This excited the rest of the ponies in the carriage, even those who were not paying attention, to join her outside and get a good look of the town. What lay before them was not a sight for sore eyes.

The town, in all senses of the word, looked dead. The buildings that had once lined the streets, now resembled piles of rubble. The town hall itself, looked burnt and destroyed. From where they all stood, they could see that there were only a few buildings left standing, and even those buildings were covered in moss and overgrown plants. The streets were also filled with such plants, and it made for a hazardous walkway.

What was worst about the entire sight, was that in the center of the road directly in front of them, was the body of a dead pony...


	2. Chapter 2

**What Was Once Ours**

by: Zaquiop

2

As the group slowly observed the dead plants, dead buildings, and dead village, each individual slowly came to notice the dead pony. All was silent, and the seconds disguised themselves as hours as they passed by. After what felt like longer than days, one brave pony soul, decided to move closer to the dead body. Luckily (but unfortunately at the same time) the body was only 20 some feet away.

As the brave soul made it to the body, they seemed to slow each step they took. It seemed almost as if they would never reach the dead pony before another day passed. With each step forward, the mare's head shifted downwards, in order to maintain eye contact with the body. This also allowed for her ruby mane to fall before her eyes.

Despite her eyesight continually being blocked by the strands of her mane, she would continue on. Eventually, she was right over top of the body, and her mane swung directly downward, allowing for her to catch sight of the cold dead eyes staring back up at her. This mare, was strong enough to stay where she was, and reach a hoof out towards the body.

Gently, she laid her hoof across his neck, in order to feel for a pulse, her eyesight never deterring from that of the dead's. All her hoof felt was the ice cold skin of the dead.

With a new lack of hope in her heart, she slowly, moved her hoof over the eyes of the dead. She gently pressed down on the eyelid each time,and brought them downwards, until the eyes were no longer looking at her. Only now, did she break eye contact. Her eyes closed, and she turned back towards the group slowly.

From the distance everypony else was at, the Mare's body experienced a few short shudders, before she came barreling towards them. She pushed past the crowd of ponies, and ran straight into the carriage they had all arrived in.

As she pushed past, It was clear that a few patches of her light grey fur, had been darkened by tears.

* * *

The body was moved within the hour. It was dragged off the side of the street, and into one of the various alleyways of Ponyville. After the dirty deed was completed, the large group of twenty started to slowly walk towards the town center. Everything, was silent.

As they went along, every now and then, a pony would break off from the group, and go inspect something off to the side. A few ponies went inside their own houses and stayed there. The once large group of 20, slowly shrunk down to a small group of 9.

They had reached the town hall. Only now, did Twilight look up from the pavement, to take a look at the other three that had followed them all this way. It was hard to tell who they were at first, because two of them were being crushed in hugs from rarity and applejack. This very act puzzled Twilight until she caught a glimpse of the third.

Scootaloo was standing off a bit from the group.

Suddenly it hit Twilight. Everything made a bit more sense. Applejack and Rarity had finished squashing their sisters, and now it was obvious that what was once known as the "cutiemark crusaders" had been with them all along.

The first thing Twilight thought, was that these three were far too young to be in this sort of environment. In fact they were only... young adults now... It dawned on Twilight that she hadn't seen the trio for an entire 6 years, and they had really grown up since then. They were much older, but it still felt too dangerous in Twilight's opinion.

No words were exchanged between any of the 9 members of their little posse. Just hugs and tears.

It took a while for everyone to calm down enough to actually start a conversation.

"Ah never expected to see you three here." Applejack was the first one to break the silence.

"Well we aren't little kids anymore" Applebloom responded. It was like music to Twilights ears. She was starting to think that they would never say a word.

"It's still mighty dangerous out here! I don't want to see anything bad happenin to ya!" Applejack continued

"Aw, come on applejack!" Now it was sweetie bell. another angel began to sing. "We aren't the little foals you knew 6 years ago. We've grown up, and we can handle ourselves."

"But sweetie bell!" Rarity intervened. "Don't you know how dangerous it is out here? We're just looking out for our little sisters!"

"Ah know you are, and I reckon you will, but you don't need to keep worryin so much. We'll all look out for eachother, and nothing bad will happen. Ah'm sure of it."

Twilight just listened to the conversation quietly. She was still a little in shock from even finding these three here. However, there was one pony that had yet to speak. Twilight looked over to Scootaloo, only to find her looking down at her own hooves. For a moment, her eyes swung upwards, and caught sight of The rainbow colored pegasus in their group, but they quickly fell back to the ground.

It was sad to see a once lively member of the old trifecta had lost most of her will to remain lively. From what Twilight could guess, Scootaloo was just hoping for a little bit of love from Rainbow dash, but it seemed as though Dash had decided not to supply any. Every time Scootaloo looked up to Dash, it seemed as though she lost more and more hope. It seemed as though it would break the girls heart not to see Dash look back up at her.

Suddenly, Scootaloo perked up when she raised her head next. She seemed so much more alive, and for what reason? Rainbow dash had turned her head, and looked right at the purple maned pegasus. It seemed as though this chance occurrence was all that was needed to get Scootaloo so excited. She was practically beaming with brightness just because her idol had looked at her.

What happened next was devastating. Rainbow Dash had looked away after a mere few seconds of eye contact. It was like she had only cared to see Scootaloo there for few seconds before she lost interest. It devastated Scootaloo beyond belief. Her head dropped back down, and she seemed to be completely slumped over and devoid of life.

Then, she walked away.

Twilight was stunned for a while, because of everything that had just happened. She had no clue what to do in a situation like this. She could tell Scootaloo wanted to be left alone, but Ponyville had become a dangerous place. In the end, Twilight resolved to let Scootaloo be.

There was a good bit of time before Twilight went over to the rest of the group, and started adding to the conversation. The eight of them had a cheerful chat for a while, before somepony finally noticed the missing member.

It was Applebloom that asked, "Hey... Where's Scootaloo?"

Before anyone could respond, Twilight spoke up. "She left."

"Where did she go?" Was the next question.

"I'm not sure, but she went that way." Twilight said as she raised a hoof, and pointed to the direction Scootaloo had gone.

"Aw horse apples! Why didn't you tell us earlier? It doesn't matter. Come on Sweetie Bell we gotta go find her." With that, the two of them ran off to where Scootaloo might have been.

* * *

Within the next few minutes, even the 6 close friends had split, and gone their separate ways. Each one had gone to go check on their homes, each one had gone alone. Despite the risk, everypony cared more about getting to their homes, and checking on their possessions more than anything else. Everypony was finally returning home, after a 6 year waiting period.

It was odd to think that returning home was such a high priority. Twilight herself hadn't cared much for the notion. She was focusing on other things. She was taking inventory on what buildings were still standings, and what buildings could be lived in. She was checking for any sort of traps left behind, as well as looking for any dangers. Most of all, she was looking for a reasonable base of operations.

When she had passed it by last, Twilight had noticed that the town hall of Ponyville was more or less destroyed, so she would need to find another place to set up camp. Her library was still mostly intact, so it seemed like a viable option, but It would be weird to have so many ponies in her house that often. Alas, ponies would have to start to sacrifice things if it meant good for the entire group. Twilight might have to sacrifice her tree house to the purpose of making it a main camp. Though, it would definitely be better to find a different option.

As she continued to walk and asses the damage of all of the various different buildings and piles of rubble, Twilight noticed that there were a few ponies just standing around without anything to do. She decided that now would be a good time to get these ponies in gear, and have everypony start working on finding a new base of operations. Either that, or they could start helping each other with fixing up homes, or finding new ones.

Hopefully, she could get a few ponies to start to take charge, and a leader of sorts could be picked out. They would certainly not last long without a leader, so it was imperative that opportunities start popping up sooner rather than later.

Off to her right, Twilight saw a small huddle of three ponies she had never before seen in her life. As she approached them, she spoke.

"Hello!" She called out while she was still a little away from the group.

All three heads turned to see who this intruder pon silence was, and not a single one of them decided to speak.

"Alright look," Twilight started as she got close enough to lower her voice to a talking volume. "We are gonna need to set up a main camp kind of place sometime soon, so that we can start getting things done. Do you have any ideas as to where we could set that up?"

"Did you try looking at the town hall?" One of the three ponies asked.

"The town hall is mostly destroyed you dolt." One of her friends quickly snapped back. "Were you even paying attention when we walked over here?"

"I was a little distracted by the dead body!" The first quickly defended herself.

"Excuse me?" Twilight cut in. "Do you know of any other places we could set up?"

Now the third pony in the group spoke up. "Uhm, what about your house? Or maybe Rarity's? They both are kind of big landmarks."

"Duly noted." Twilight said with a nod. She hadn't even considered the boutique as a place to consider main camp. She was sure that Rarity was generous enough to share it with everypony. "Can the three of you try and gather pony's together and tell them to meet at the town hall ruble for the time being? Once we have everypony all together in the same place we can start making more important decisions."

With a few small words of agreement, and some small nods, the three ponies started to walk away. Twilight turned, and went off as well. She was going to go to the rubble now, and try and control the ponies that were going to come. There needed to be somepony there to 'hold down the fort' as they say.

* * *

Rarity too walked away from their group heading to her own personal destination. She wanted to visit her boutique, to possibly say an early goodbye. She knew that it wasn't very good to be so run down on hope so soon, but it was almost guaranteed that they still wouldn't survive. Even after all of these years of ponies trying and trying to take this place back, and re-build, she feared that the progress they had made wouldn't be enough for her, and her friends to make it very long.

It wasn't a long walk to the boutique from where they were beforehand, but it seemed to take forever to arrive. Rarity couldn't very well focus on anything apart from reaching her boutique, and thinking about the walk only made it seem so much longer. Each step felt like it was only achieving half as much as it should, and it felt like she had been walking for hours when she finally arrived.

Upon such arrive Rarity was immediately disgusted by the looks of the place. There were intricate patterns of cracks in the stone wall. As well as this, vines hung down from various places, and most of the bright colors had faded entirely. All in all, it looked disgustingly unattractive, but Rarity continued to be pulled towards it. there was something charming amongst the wreckage that made rarity want to go inside and look around.

She took a few steps forwards and gently pushed open the door. Upon first sight it was easy to tell that it looked nearly the same as the outside had. Except, on the inside, there was more dust and cobwebs. Rarity spent a while in the doorway just staring at the place she used to call home. The whole time, she was silent, and this was one of the few rare occasions, where she did not complain about how filthy she was getting.

When she finally took a few steps into the building, she was careful not to disturb anything, or put them out of position from where they were as of this moment. She didn't really like the way things were sprawled out across the floor in random places, but there was an eerie feeling to it all that only made the mess seem like a masterpiece.

Rarity continued through the mess until she made her way to the other side where the stairs existed. For a while she found herself wondering whether or not it was even worth it to look at the room she had once slept in. Eventually, she silently declared it was necessary to see the whole building before she could possibly say goodbye.

She made her way up the stair, and over to the door that opened to the room that had once belonged to her. She stood there for a while, wondering the same question as she had when she had been standing at the stairs. She wondered if it was even worth it to look. once again, she decided it was worth it, and pushed the door open.

Inside, there was the little room she had always had, organized in the same way as it always had been. It seemed as though the ponies that had come here before were decent enough to leave the bedroom intact for the inhabitants.

A small tear came to her eye as she remembered the times she had spent on this bed dramatizing events. she also remember when Sweetie bell had curled up next to her in the middle of the night, and the two of them shared the bed to drive away the monsters. Rarity, sighed as she knew those happy days were long gone.

But still she couldn't come to terms with it. she couldn't believe that such a beautiful village could be ransacked to the point of destruction on multiple ends, but yet her room had been saved. She couldn't believe that this place she had cherished and loved had been left standing, and clean, while everything else was destroyed.

In hopes of finding evidence to support the reality, or the disguise she ran a hoof along the soft covers of the bed she had spent so long in. She could remember what it felt like to be in such a nice bed, but only barely. 6 years of time in anything else could easily implant that kind of feeling on anypony. The feeling of losing what it felt like to sleep comfortably, only made Rarity realize how much she had actually lost when she left Ponyville so long ago.

"Do you still remember all of those time, so very long ago, when we would sleep in this room together, like real sisters?"

The voice came from behind Rarity, and could not be mistaken. She turned around only to find her younger sister behind her standing in the doorway. She looked at Sweetie Bell with teary eyes, and spoke her name in the most motherly way possible.

"Sweetie bell..."

With that, the two embraced in a hug that seemed like it would last an eternity. Both recipients of the hug surely hoped it would, as they never wanted this moment of happiness to end.

* * *

Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, at this point in time, could be found standing outside of the clubhouse they had built so long ago. the wood on the sides was cracked and old, and the entire roof had a serious dip in it, but nonetheless it felt like home to the two mares. Not only had the majority of their time been spent their as the trio that used to be called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but they had even built it themselves.

"I should probably go find my sis now..." Were the first words spoken out of Apple Bloom's mouth. She had come here to check and make sure Scootaloo was okay, and now that she was sure she was, she desperately wanted to find her sister again.

"Yeah." Came the reply from the otherwise silent Scootaloo. She didn't have anything else to say. This whole time, even before Apple Bloom had shown up, Scootaloo had her eyes locked on the clubhouse. she sat unmoving, and stared, as if looking at it long enough would allow her to travel back in time, and relive those earlier years.

"Thanks." Apple Bloom quickly responded. She hesitated, as if she was going to say more, but then turned and ran off towards Sweet Apple Acres. Leaving Scootaloo all alone.

This meant she could finally cry.

The tears she cried were of a special kind. They weren't tears of sadness, but a close relative. they were tears of loss. It's one thing to be sad, another to be scared, but to have lost something is such a beautiful mixture of the two, that it deserves it's own category. Tears of loss are tears that are shed when something important has been truly erased from your life, and then the reality of such finally hits you.

In this case, Scootaloo had lost her home. The one place she had managed to live in while she was a filly. This sanctuary had meant so much to Scootaloo. It had meant shelter in the rain, and warmth in the cold. It meant friends and company, and of all others, it meant freedom.

It meant so much to Scootaloo, that she couldn't even bring herself to enter the run down place again. All she could do was reminisce about the past, and all of the cool things she had done within it.

Over the past six years Scootaloo had managed to hold up this false hope that this clubhouse was still intact. she had used this hope as a way to keep herself calm and collected around her friends. She had managed not to cry once over six years of sorrow, but not that she saw how broken the building was, it nearly broke her heart.

A home, and a shelter were all she had had when she was a filly growing up in Ponyville. She had lived in an orphanage most of her childhood, but as soon and this clubhouse was built she had run away. She had hated it there, and she wanted the freedom of having a different place to stay. That's why this makeshift building meant so much to her. It was the first taste of freedom and happiness she had had in her childhood, and that was worth more than anything in the world to Scootaloo.

* * *

The barn on the top of the hill of Sweet Apple Acres was normally completely empty, and used to hold absolutely nothing. This had come about after everypony had left Ponyville. Back in it's day, it used to be filled with hay, and possible some farm animals. It also used to hold tons and tons of apples if it was a good year. Despite all of this, the barn was still usually pretty empty feeling.

Today, the bay covered floor of the big red barn was actually being used for something. Not only was it holding the body of an orange mare, but at the same time, it held memories. It held memories of the parties that were thrown by none other than pinkie pie. It held the memories of ponies like Granny Smith, who had passed away nearly 4 years ago now. But also, it held the memory of a certain dog, by the name of winona, who had also passed away a while back.

Most importantly however, it held the memories of the life she had given up three years ago. This empty barn simply served as a reminder that nothing would ever go back to the way it was, not exactly. There would always be a missing component, be it granny smith, winona, or perhaps 6 years of Applejack's life. Something would always be out of the picture, and there was no magic strong enough to change that.

But there was more to it than that. No only was there 6 years missing in Applejacks life, but Applebloom's as well. She was all grown up now, and Applejack missed it all when they were in Canterlot. Applejack had missed her sister grow into the mare she was now, and it was just enough to make her cry some more.

Then, suddenly there was a hoof on her shoulder. Applejack looked up, through bleary eyes, only to see bleary eyes staring back at her. She immediately recognized them as applebloom's, and the two embraced. together, they cried into each other's shoulders, and shared the the heavy feeling of sadness.

So, that day, the floor of the usually empty barn, held one more thing. This thing, would be held by the barns floor, until the time it is demolished, and torn apart. The floor would hold one more memory. This memory however, was arguably the strongest of them all, as it was intertwined with everything else, like the roots of an apple tree.

* * *

Pinkie Pie had just about lost it with this town, she was so frustrated! Everypony was soooooo saaaaad and there was nothing she could do about it! Every time she went up and told some jokes, everypony just gave her an awkward stare! It's not even like they were bad jokes either! To be honest this is some of the best material pinkie had seen in the longest time, and NOPONY thought it was funny AT ALL! Maybe it was just the wrong time? Were these ponies not just down, but waywaywaywaywaywaywaywayWAY down? Was it finally time to face the facts, and admit that nopony was going to cheer up just yet?

Nope!

She had a plan! A crazy super duper special plan that was gonna make everything better! It was a surprise party! Duh! Pinkie Pie just had to make her way over to Sugarcube corner, and grab the party cannon real quick, and she would rig up the biggest baddest most besteiest estis surprise party ever held! I mean, if everypony else was gonna be sad, The it was up to Pinkie Pie to cheer them all up! And it would take some seeeeeerrriiiooouuss party to do that. Like, more serious than seriousness seriously seriouses! That, was serious stuff.

As Pinkie rounded the corner to reach the Sugarcube corner, her heart stopped in an instant, and she actually stopped moving.

Now there are very few things in the world that can cause Pinkie Pie to stop dead in her bouncing through town. One being a freeze ray, and another being a twitchy tail. Neither of these circumstances had occurred however, and Pinkie Pie found even herself wondering why she had stopped. The answer, as she soon found, was a tear rolling down her cheek.

Pinkie hadn't even noticed that she was crying, but if one were to look behind her, they might find that she had been bouncing tears onto the pavement for quite some time now. She only just noticed because there had been one lucky tear to hang on to her face until now, so that it could trail down the side of her face, and bring her to reality, no matter how hard that may usually be.

What had initially set off her tears was something of the past. Maybe it was the idea that there was nothing she could do about everypony's sadness, but now, she was crying for another reason. Sugarcube corner was standing, shining brightly, right before her, and she was crying because she realized only just now that she would never be able to step inside the shop.

She was crying because she knew that her loved ones had lived in that house, and she remembered sadly that, despite her greatest exertions otherwise, pumpkin and pound cake had both perished. Mr. and Mrs. Cake and Her had all wept for the longest time, as the two passed as they were born, together at the same time. This had been the saddest moment in all of Pinky's life, and she never expected, after six years, that it would be brought back to her conscious in an instant.

Pinkie cried because she realized that she had been running from this very conflict for the last 5 years of her life, and she realized how frail she really was, that she had to run from such a thing. She cried because she knew she would never be able to go inside that shop, and accept the fact that those two foals had both died in there, and still be able to carry on. She cried because she knew she would never move on.

She would only ever run away.

And so she did.

* * *

Rainbow dash had never been one for all of those sappy little sad stories she always heard as a foal. Everypony had assumed that in her childhood, since she was a mare, that she had a thing for such stories, when in fact, she mentally stuck out her tongue in disgust whenever she even thought about them. (Including now.) Even now, she was a bit disgusted at how much everypony cared about returning to some shabby old town she used to live in.

Now, Rainbow dash did care about the town. It was her home town after all, of course she had loved the place, of course, in the coolest use of the word "love". She had to admit she had sort of missed the place, but she certainly didn't end up crying over it or anything like that. In all reality, the most saddening thing that Rainbow dash encountered was probably the fact that she would have to sit still and wait around here for a long while till something could happen.

Though, to be fair, she did have to admit that she wanted to see her old home once more, and despite her own feelings against the sappiness it implied, she flew right up to her home in the clouds. Or, at least, where it should have been. So it turns out, her home had gone missing, probably pillaged, or blown away in some wind. However found it when she left ponyville had been lucky that there was a floating house around, because it's probably one of the best forms of a mobile home.

It struck her as odd, but that seemed to be it. Rainbow Dash just couldn't believe that somepony had up and went with her home in tow. Of course, it wasn't all that surprising. It was like, the coolest house in town, and it weighed literally nothing. No wonder somepony took it! It was almost humorous how easily she had lost that thing.

In fact, Rainbow dash even chuckled lightly at her misfortune. It wasn't like she was out of a home, there were like, a gazillion houses all over Ponyville, so in fact, there actually was no harm done. Losing a house is actually a pretty funny thing. One day it's there, six years later it's not.

Heh.

In that moment a frown came across the cyan pegasus's lips. Had it really been six years? It was almost impossible to believe that such time could have passed so quickly. And now, what did Rainbow dash have to show for all of the time she had spent here in Ponyville? She didn't have a house, that's for sure. She no longer had a reputation, heck, she probably couldn't even perform half of her tricks if she wanted to.

What did she have?

Well, in all honesty, she had nothing. Her prized possessions she had left at Canterlot in her hurry. Her house had been stolen. Her _whole house!_ And, now that she thought about it, it seemed more and more like everything she had worked so hard for six years ago had disappeared. Well, everything except for one thing.

There was obviously a reason why she was the element of loyalty. She had stood by her friends all throughout their time in Canterlot. And by extension, all throughout their time in Ponyville prior to that. And so, to this day, she still had one thing. Her friends.

This alone was almost enough to cause the worlds fastest flyer, the one good junior speedster, the best young flyer, to cry.

Almost enough.

Almost.

* * *

Fluttershy didn't even have to make it all the way to the front door of her cottage to break down into tears. She knew there would be nothing inside. she knew that all of her little animal friends wouldn't be there, and had probably all left to the forest to survive. She obviously hadn't been able to take them to Canterlot with her, so she had to leave them here. Much like she was now, Fluttershy had cried when she had to leave them behind so long ago.

However this time, she had no friends or small critters to comfort her in her sadness. For the first time in her life life she felt truly, completely alone, and this, brought her to cry even harder that she already was. Now, she wasn't just crying tears of sadness, but of loss and loneliness as well. All of this, plus tears of fear.

Fear that being sent back to ponyville would only end up putting everypony in bad situations. The fear that being sent here, was some sort of cruel way to just _kill_ off everypony that was sent. Fluttershy was afraid as she was lonely, and that meant she was more afraid than she ever had been before. Her fear of dragons was nothing compared to her fear now.

All that any of this meant, was that She would keep crying for a long time now. she was broken down, shivering in a huddle on the ground, weeping her eyes out. She knew that sooner or later she would have to enter that cottage of hers, but she also knew that it wouldn't happen until she was ready to handle it. She didn't think she would ever be.

There was really only one solution to a problem like this, at least, only one that Fluttershy knew of. She figured that all that was left was for her to run away and never come back, but this only saddened her more. She hated her own feebleness, and hated how easily she broke down like this, but she didn't have the guts to do anything about it. This was Fluttershy's curse. She was too afraid to rid herself of fear.

So she did what any scared pony does. She ran. She ran from her home, she ran from her past, and she ran from her fear, and all this running in turn scared her more. She was pathetic and she hated it. In the back of her mind, there was hope yet. Fluttershy prayed and prayed that she would prove herself despite knowing it was in vain.

How could a pony so scared, so feeble, so useless ever prove herself? Fluttershy didn't know. What's worse, Fluttershy didn't want to know.

She was afraid of the answer.

* * *

Back at the center of town, a small crowd of ponies was forming at the rubble. Twilight, being the crazed leader of the crowd was up on a bit of the rock, listing her plans to herself.

"Town hall equals base, avoid library and sugarcube corner, buddy system, find food supplies, water from river in town..." The list went on and on. Twilight had gone through so much trouble classifying everything as safe or dangerous, figuring out food sources, setting up ideas for housing, and everything a wonderful ruler, er, citizen, should do to make everypony happy.

Twilight wanted to be in charge, and she wanted everypony to know it. She may have looked calm and ready on the outside, but on the inside, she was a twitchy nervous wreck.

She was a patient, twitchy nervous wreck however, because she was waiting for everypony to show up _still, _and she had been here since forever! But she could wait, after all, it's what a princess does for her subjects, it's what a scientist does most everyday, it couldn't be too hard.

Only a few feet away, a still teary eyed yellow pegasus _finally_ made it back.


	3. Let's try this again!

**This is a message from the author!**

Don't get al excited because you think that I finally wrote a chapter three to this story, I in fact did not. instead, I am here to tell you dear readers than I plan on re-typing this story from the beginning. I feel as though I could do a better job, and maybe fix a few things that seem a bit off or poorly written by writing it again. Just stay tuned for when I finally do re-write the chapter, because I plan of deleting all of the current chapters as soon as I'm ready to post a new one. Until then, I'll leave them up, but just keep an eye out for when the new chapter finally des come out. Before you get all excited though, know that I am not making a promise to have a new chapter up anytime soon. I will probably have to wait until summer when I have a less demanding schedule.

So to summarize a bit here. I'm going to re-type this story, and delete what is now posted. I am not going to be writing at any faster of a speed than before, and updates will likely come out just as slowly as before.

I'll see you all when the new rendition is ready!

-zaquiop.


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